As a leader, I’ve come to appreciate the power of using polar opposites as a forcing mechanism to inspire people to move off a current position and into a different one. Specifically, to pose two positions at opposite ends of a spectrum and ask someone to choose which one of the two is their desired state. No wishy-washy. No stuck in the middle.
Having come to appreciate the parallels between parenting and leadership, I used this concept in raising my boys. One thing I always told them was, “You’re going to be one of two kinds of people in this world, a net contributor or a net consumer. You decide. But you’re going to be one or the other.”
When young professionals or pastors ask me what it takes to be successful in business or ministry, I often lead with this. It’s a simple concept with immediate resonance and profound implications. Most people of character and competence can, and will, immediately choose contributor over consumer. The next obvious question though is, “What are the best ways to distinguish yourself as a contributor?”
Although not an exhaustive list, I have found four surefire strategies that, when knitted together into the fabric of your persona, distinguish people as contributors. Or as I like to say, separate the wheat from the chaff.
1. Be Excellent
Martin Luther King Jr. had the definitive word on this when he said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” The issue is not choosing the right thing to do. The issue here is choosing how to do the thing you’ve chosen to do with your life, your career, or simply in the moment.
2. Put in the Hours
I was recently scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and came across the quote, “There is no elevator to success, you’re going to have to take the stairs.” It’s easy to look at the success stories our culture parades in front of us, and mistakenly think we can have success without putting in the required effort. My observation has been that the people who decide to be contributors to this world, and put in the time to contribute, achieve success as a byproduct of building an honorable reputation.
3. Invest in Others
By default, if you want to be a contributor to this world, you have to be outwardly focused. Your primary pursuits cannot be about yourself. You must look outside yourself, find ways to serve others, and make it a hallmark of how you live your life. People that live this way stand out in a crowd. They distinguish themselves. Companies want to hire them. Others want to befriend them. The next generation of contributors wants to emulate them.
4. Go Beyond your Responsibilities
I remember as a kid I walked through the kitchen, into the family room, and past my dad who was reading the paper in his chair. He stopped me and we had this exchange:
Dad: Did you notice anything in the kitchen?
Me: Yes, the trashcan was overflowing.
Dad: Why didn’t you take it out?
Me: It’s Lisa’s [my sister] week to take out the trash.
Dad: Son, if you ever see anything that needs done, don’t wait for others. Do it yourself.
This isn’t to say you should go around doing everyone’s job for them. However, contributors are willing to take a moment to help others, even if it’s not your job. Even if no one is watching. Even if people don’t say anything, they’ll assuredly notice.
As a dad, I’ve passed many lessons I learned from my dad to my boys. One of the sayings I’ve added to our history of “dadisms” is, “This is my hope for you. But you have to decide for yourself. I’ve already decided, and my reputation is what it is as a result of all the choices I’ve made over many decades.” So how about you? Which will it be? Are you going to be a net contributor or consumer in this world?
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